The ombudsman is elected by the European Parliament for the length of the Parliament's term, and the position is renewable. The monetary policy of the eurozone is determined by the European Central Bank. [245][aa], The euro, and the monetary policies of those who have adopted it in agreement with the EU, are under the control of the European Central Bank (ECB). [296] In general, life expectancy is lower in Eastern Europe than in Western Europe. However, it has been a “potential candidate country” since 2000 when it was recognized. Trade barriers and competitive distortions in the Common Market could emerge due to the different environmental standards in each member state. It shares with the Council of the EU equal legislative powers to amend, approve or reject Commission proposals for most areas of EU legislation. [183] Emily O'Reilly is the ombudsman since 2013. The creation of a European single currency became an official objective of the European Economic Community in 1969. [79], As of 1 February 2020[update], the population of the European Union was about 447 million people (5.8% of the world population). This can be witnessed and is prevalent every day. The EU investment into creating state-of-the-art vaccine and drug research, development and manufacturing capacities will be one of the core blocks for future pandemic response, but will also contribute to EU strategic autonomy in the area of health and the strategic positioning of the European healthcare industry. [104] The three official alphabets of the European Union (Cyrillic, Latin, and modern Greek) all derive from the Archaic Greek scripts. To that end, a number of efforts were made to increase the EU's military capability, notably the Helsinki Headline Goal process. The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe. [107], Besides the 24 official languages, there are about 150 regional and minority languages, spoken by up to 50 million people. pp. Its capital is Vienna and the official language in Austria is German. It is not only an economic union but the single market with no borders for trade and the single euro currency used by 19 member states of the Eurozone. 65,993 km (41,006 mi) coastline dominates the European climate (Natural Park of Penyal d'Ifac, Spain), Mont Blanc in the Alps is the highest peak in the EU, The Danube (pictured in Budapest), is the longest river in the European Union, Repovesi National Park in Finland, where there are some 187,888 lakes larger than 500 square metres (5,382 sq ft), Nuorgam, a village in the Utsjoki municipality, is the northernmost point of the European Union, Including the overseas territories of France which are located outside the continent of Europe, but which are members of the union, the EU experiences most types of climate from Arctic (north-east Europe) to tropical (French Guiana), rendering meteorological averages for the EU as a whole meaningless. The European Union, because it is so large and consists of so many characteristics of a typical state, is often mistakenly referred to as a state or a country. It consists of a government minister from each member state and meets in different compositions depending on the policy area being addressed. Let’s define the term more clearly (Print the Political System Worksheet to record your findings in this activity). EU State aid rules: 1. outside the scope of EU State aid control – the publicly funded activity concerned is of a non-economic character; 2. recipient of State Aid – your organisation qualifies as an ‘undertaking’ in relation to thepublicly funded activity concerned; 3. grantor of State … [232], 19 member states have joined a monetary union known as the eurozone, which uses the euro as a single currency. The single market involves the free circulation of goods, capital, people, and services within the EU,[233] and the customs union involves the application of a common external tariff on all goods entering the market. In other areas the EU and its member states share the competence to legislate. and Corcelle, G. (1989) The Environmental Policy of the European Communities, Graham & Trotman, London, Cases C-403/08 and C-429/08, Opinion of Advocate General Kokott, para 207, Riché, Preface xviii, Pierre Riché reflects: "[H]e enjoyed an exceptional destiny, and by the length of his reign, by his conquests, legislation and legendary stature, he also profoundly marked the history of Western Europe. Important documents, such as legislation, are translated into every official language and the European Parliament provides translation for documents and plenary sessions. It has been engaged extensively with EU institutions like NATO. Policing state aid is also a cornerstone of the EU, which regulates Europe’s vast free trade area known as the common market, home to almost 450 million consumers. [244] According to the Treaty the provision of services is a residual freedom that only applies if no other freedom is being exercised. The EU budget is scrutinised by the European Court of Auditors. You can find information about admissions, our history, community, and our student population. During the centuries that followed the fall of Rome in 476, several European states viewed themselves as translatio imperii ("transfer of rule") of the defunct Roman Empire: the Frankish Empire (481–843) and the Holy Roman Empire (962–1806) were thereby attempts to resurrect Rome in the West. Policing state aid is also a cornerstone of the EU, which regulates Europe’s vast free trade area known as the common market, home to almost 450 million consumers. [65] In 1985, the Schengen Agreement paved the way for the creation of open borders without passport controls between most member states and some non-member states. Activities: A History of the European Union, Activity 1: A European Union History Quiz, Activity 1: A European Union History Quiz (Answers), The Reconstruction of Europe in the Shadow of Communism — External Pressure, Activity 1: Foreign Affairs Brainstorming, Activity 1: Foreign Affairs Brainstorming (Answers), Activity 2: About Europe’s External Relations. [138][139] It is less integrated than a federal state because it is not a state in its own right: sovereignty continues to flow 'from the bottom up', from the several peoples of the separate member states, rather than from a single undifferentiated whole. Despite joining the EU as a de facto divided island, the whole of Cyprus is EU territory. (German version pictured), A European driving licence card (Croatian version pictured), A European passport, displaying the name of the member state, the national arms and the words "European Union" given in their official language(s). Citizens and social groups make their political demands through interest groups and political parties. [56] European leaders Alcide De Gasperi from Italy, Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman from France, and Paul-Henri Spaak from Belgium understood that coal and steel were the two industries essential for waging war, and believed that by tying their national industries together, future war between their nations became much less likely. In historian Tamar Herzog words, “as a result of these developments, many now argue that de facto , even if not de jure , the European Union lost its original character as an international body and became a quasi-federal state with a quasi-federal constitution (European law) to which all member states are now subject”. The EU was founded with the intention of becoming a supranational union. [s] Previously, the EU itself could not accede to the convention as it is neither a state[t] nor had the competence to accede. 80% of its programming are provided in equal proportion by the two member companies, while the remainder is being provided by the European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE GEIE and the channel's European partners. EU member states are not sovereign. [131], The EU operates through a hybrid system of supranational and intergovernmental decision-making,[132][133] and according to the principles of conferral (which says that it should act only within the limits of the competences conferred on it by the treaties) and of subsidiarity (which says that it should act only where an objective cannot be sufficiently achieved by the member states acting alone). Case 11/70, Internationale Handelsgesellschaft v. Einfuhr und Vorratstelle für Getreide und Futtermittel; Article 6(2) of the Maastricht Treaty (as amended). [157] Next comes "agriculture" with approximately 31% of the total. They also need to accept supremacy of european courts over national ones. United in Diversity was adopted as the motto of the Union in the year 2000, having been selected from proposals submitted by school pupils. Post-Maastricht there has been a rapidly developing corpus of ECJ judgements regarding this initially neglected freedom. [160][161] In their report on 2009 the auditors found that five areas of Union expenditure, agriculture and the cohesion fund, were materially affected by error. The interpretation and the application of EU law and the treaties are ensured by the Court of Justice of the European Union. The relevance and performance of state-owned enterprises in the european economy 6 1.1. [305] This followed lobbying by governing organisations such as the International Olympic Committee and FIFA, due to objections over the application of free market principles to sport, which led to an increasing gap between rich and poor clubs. [240], Two of the original core objectives of the European Economic Community were the development of a common market, subsequently becoming a single market, and a customs union between its member states. "[177] The Court of Justice has long recognised fundamental rights and has, on occasion, invalidated EU legislation based on its failure to adhere to those fundamental rights.[178]. [148] The other 26 Commissioners are subsequently appointed by the Council of the European Union in agreement with the nominated President. However, EU law states that the Charter does not create new rights and does not increase the EU’s powers. Because the EU has supranational elements and intergovernmental elements, it cannot be designated as either a supranational or an intergovernmental organization. ), the Flemish Diamond (Antwerp, Brussels, Leuven, Ghent et al.) [318]:1 Within the EU enlargement process, guaranteeing media freedom is named a "key indicator of a country's readiness to become part of the EU". In 2002, the currency was fully put into place, when euro notes and coins were issued and national currencies began to phase out in the eurozone, which by then consisted of 12 member states. European level processes are ‘bracketed’ to analyze their effects at the member-state level or vice versa. To this end it has adopted laws establishing minimum employment and environmental standards. [117] The countries where the fewest people reported a religious belief were Estonia (16%) and the Czech Republic (19%). Countries accede to the union by becoming party to the founding treaties, thereby subjecting themselves to the privileges and obligations of EU membership. [152], In the ordinary legislative procedure, the European Commission proposes legislation, which requires the joint approval of the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union to pass. However, following the UK's exit from the block in early 2020 the percentage of the EU population who spoke English as their native language fell from 13% to 1%. The EU was created by the Maastricht Treaty, which entered into force on November 1, 1993. In her State of the Union address on 16 September 2020, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen presented her vision for a Europe that emerges stronger from the pandemic and leads the way towards a new vitality. Regulations, directives, and decisions are of equal legal value and apply without any formal hierarchy. But he pointed out that one obstacle may be that “the GDPR envisages contact between the EU and the third country, not an individual region. After alle these tests and many more, we are determined to stay together. Brexit once seemed to pose an existential threat to the European Union. The EU does not have a direct role in collecting taxes or setting tax rates. Euratom was to integrate sectors in nuclear energy while the EEC would develop a customs union among members. 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